The use of exterior decorative lighting on residences and businesses has increased in recent times. The lights are usually manufactured in strings in which a plurality of sockets are wired together using electrical leads projecting at right angles across the base of the socket. Colored bulbs are inserted into the sockets. Plugs at the ends of the electrical leads are also provided for connection to other strings and eventually to a power source.
Since the use of such lighting strings are seasonal, such lights are usually installed at the start of the season and removed toward the end. Various methods and brackets have been proposed in installing the light strings. In this regard, staple guns have been employed at the eaves and roof ridge of buildings to attach the light strings.
Nails and threaded hooks have also been used. Such devices add to the difficulty of installation and leave holes or parts of the staples, nails, etc, on the buildings after the lights have been removed. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,710 (Trueson).
In addition, brackets have been proposed for use between shingles (U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,977 (Gary) and references there cited. Furthermore, clamps have also been constructed for attachment to gutters and the like, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,632 (Siilats). However, there remains a need for an integral bracket for decorative lights that can be attached to not only eave and ridge shingles, but also to wooden rafters below eaves, facia boards, rain gutters, and wooden horizontal supports of yard fences and rails surrounding such buildings.